all dressed up for Halloween

This year for Halloween I didn't think I was going to need a costume. Mike and I were going to a party where, as far as I knew, costumes were not required. Then came the email that costumes were "strongly encourage" - 3 days before Halloween!! And then I started to get a bit worried.

I have a few staple costumes that have worked for me in years past, but none that I felt comfortable wearing this year, or I was just plain sick of them. Then while browsing some costumes on the 'net, I came upon one I thought would work - Velma from Scooby-Doo! Pretty easy - maroon skirt orange tights and turtleneck - I already had the glasses, how hard could it be? Well, even in a Clemson loving town, orange is not a color to be easily found. I came up with the idea Wed. and spent most of Thurs. night running from store to store, and finally at 10pm with no tights or turtleneck in sight, gave in to the realization that it was the night before and I had nothing.

I went to sleep hoping I'd dream up something amazing and easy, but nope. Woke up with Nada. So, while getting ready for work, I took one last peruse through my craft room in the hopes that something would inspire me - and realistically, to take note of where my old costumes were. At this point I figured it was going to be an old idea or nothing. As I sorted through the boxes of yarn and needles and fabric, I thought - if only I could do something with all this yarn - I have enough of it, but I don't have time to knit anything.. wouldn't it be great if I could just be .. !!
... but wait!!

what if I....

YES!

I have it!

And with a few tips from some friends at work, I was able to pull together my costume in a few hours when I got home and I went as....



A big ball of yarn!

I have to admit I was pretty proud of myself. It took me an hour or so of fiddling to get the base just right, and then I hand wound the yarn around it to give it the oh-so-real look just the way I envisioned it. Yeah for me!

Mike went as a wind-blown guy - another costume put together last-minute, and I think it turned out pretty well too:



And I quickly learned that when I get pregnant, I may have some maneuverability issues - but at least I won't have to worry about sticking anyone with pointy sticks! Here's me trying to sit in a chair without falling off...



At the party there was also one of my most coveted costumes - Wonder Woman! I've always wanted to dress up as her, but for some reason, never done it:



It was a good time. In what-I've-been-knitting news - I'm almost done with the baby bonnet, and was doing so well on the EZ baby sweater, that I knit about 2 inches too far in the pattern and had to rip back!
The EZ Sweater:



(It's really only coincidental that I've been knitting with so much orange)

Here's the baby bonnet for a certain niece who is about to be baptized:



I'll post more pictures of it once I kitchner the back of it.

I also decided to add a small flower to the sweater for Crystal's baby - she just had her on Wednesday and named her Molly - so here's the flower and sweater for Molly Mack which is on it's way to her now:





Once I get the EZ sweater and bonnet done, I think I'll be starting on some dishcloths and... I'm not sure what else. Perhaps a yoga bag or a sweater for myself. But I'm betting I'll end up working on a few Christmas ideas I've been working on in my head.. we'll see. I do need to plan out some projects and make sure I have the yarn and whatnot put together for the drive to Louisiana for Thanksgiving. Perhaps I need to peruse my que on Ravelry again.

playing catch-up

It's been a busy week and a half and I find I've been playing a bit of catch up at home and at work. I was a bit sickly this week, and all the things I had put aside some time to do ended up becoming resting time instead.

I did want to post a few pictures from the Puttin' on the Ritz extravaganza! We found a great little place to eat beforehand called Fast and French (or G&H) that is top on my list of favorites here in Charleston, we had some great fondue and cheap table wine - it was great! All the ladies and their gents looked their finest and we had a lovely time - it was rather entertaining evening, and not just because of the show - the audience was just as amusing. Here we are all cleaned up:



And our hat looked pretty fine too:


(upper right)
I only wish it had been on the table so you could see all the knitting parts better.

Speaking of hats, I promised pictures of the baby hat I finished:



It doesn't look as cute in the pictures, but I was trying to take pictures on a rainy day. I think the rain is partly why I've felt so cruddy lately.

And I have almost finished the booties to go along with it -I did run out of yarn for the ties, but I'm going to add some brown ribbon instead:



Ignore the stuffing as I blocked them! I just have to get out of work in enough time to make it to the store to get some ribbon. I will see if Knit has any tomorrow when I go.

Part of the reason I haven't been getting out of work until late is ... I got promoted! whoo-hoo! I kinda knew it was coming because they added two people to replace me a few weeks ago - that's right! It took two to replace me! So lately I've been training them to do my job, while also trying to get my job done.. oh and although technically things don't go into effect until Nov. 1st.. I'm now doing the new job too. Oh. joy. So, I'm getting a bit behind - which really frustrates me, because I'm usually pretty good about being up on my work and tasks and getting back to people.

I just realized tonight, I have to let some of it go, and that's what I was having a hard time with this past week. I didn't want to turn over my duties to the new people quite yet, I wanted to try to get them all done and cleaned up and in order before they were passed on. But I'm realizing I'm just being less effective at the new job, so I need to do that tomorrow. I just don't want to be a slacker or fall behind in the new position. I'm giving myself the end of the week to clean up as much as I can, and then .. let all the old stuff go. Move on and forward.

Next progress on the last of the baby items (for now I think) - a flower for Crystal's sweater, 1/4 of the way through the EZ baby sweater and I found the pattern I'm going to use and have started on the baby bonnet. Pictures of all that in the next post. I'm trying not to wear myself out too much.

knitting again

Mike and I have decided our Thanksgiving plans and are headed to Louisiana for the holidays to see my Aunt & Uncle and cousins! The have come to us the past few years for my brothers and my weddings, so now it's time to visit them! It's been a while since we've all been together that wasn't for a wedding, so this should be a really good time! The Tamburro side (which this is) usually gets together every 10 years or so for a full family reunion, but I think that's still a few years away, so this will do well in the meantime!

I think I've figured out what to make with the Indigo Moon fibers yarn I won recently. I'd love to make a pair of socks out of it, but the color really isn't right for my skin tone, so I've decided it will look really wonderful as the February baby sweater by Elizabeth Zimmerman, and it'll take care of one of the last baby gifts I have to make.

In the meantime, I'm knitting as fast as I can to finish a gift for someone due this week (who I don't think reads my blog, but you never know). Either way, I have some beautiful baby alpaca yarn 3-ply in browns that I tried making socks out of and they just didn't turn out - see blob on left-hand side of photo? Can we say bad gage bad!?



Then I was going to make a baby boy sweater out of it, and realized I didn't have quite enough yarn, and we don't need to go through that again! So I have now decided a warm hat and cute booties will work perfectly. I've started on the hat tonight and am already 2-3" up the brim (don't get too excited here, it is a baby hat) and its' going quickly. I didn't take any pictures, but I will in the next day or two. I've chosen the bootie pattern that I want to use already too - it's got a cute bulbous toe and ribbed cuffs that fold over - it should be really cute and just in time for the Chicago winters! What I really need to do is enter all this in Ravelry so it'll show up in my side bar and if I ever add pictures people can see what I'm talking about. Another night, not this one - it's too late to get going on that. I'll never make it to bed!

attending a city council meeting

This week I also went to my first City Council meeting ever. It was really ... entertaining and quite surprising. There were quite a few things brought up that I really didn't expect to be city council issues, but it was interesting to hear people say their piece. I was there to support Mike's school - the ACBA, in getting the vote for a loan from the city to support their growth and accreditation. We won the vote (7-3) YEAH, and will be getting the loan and Mike even got up and spoke to voice his support for the school. I did like hearing all the different perspectives and ideas from those both for and against the vote, but I don't know if it's something I'd attend without good cause.

Our next door neighbors are in transition - one has moved out and another is moving in. There was a package on their porch when Hanna was moving in, so we took it inside and left a note, not quite sure which neighbors it was for - the old ones or new ones. It was the old neighbors and we left it back next door for them to pick up. Then the other day this sampler was left on our doorstep:



once again, we're not sure which neighbor left it or who it belongs to. As we try to figure it out, it got me thinking - cross stitch was the first craft I remember doing, and although I still have all the supplies for it, I don't do it anymore. This brought back some fond memories and showed me that there are some really cute things that can be done with cross stitch.

Here is the sweater I finished for Crystal:



I think I'd really like to do a clasp closure on it, especially since I didn't make any button holes - but does it really need buttons or a clasp? What do you think?

high and dry

Yup - the "tropical storm" Hanna passed by with little damage, and only a bit of a storm here. Mike and I took advantage and went for a bit of walk in the rain, which was fun. I thought it'd be cold and rough, but it was pretty warm and mild. It's so weird to look outside and think the weather is one thing and then step outside to find it's another.

I'm almost finished with the 'Baby Raglan' sweater:



The green and orange look a little pumpkin-y, but then again, the baby is due in October! Yes, I do know one sleeve is longer than the other, I tried it with (as the pattern suggested) and without the ribbing, and I think I like it better without. I just finished the bottom tonight, but don't have the energy to take more pictures. Tomorrow I will rip out the little bit of ribbing on the left sleeve, cast off and seam it up. Can't believe I'm actually done with this one early!

Next on my list is the elephante pattern (ravelry link - it takes me a while to find the non-ravelry links sometimes. Which is one of the reasons I LOVE Ravelry!! Anytime I need a pattern, I can find it in 10 seconds on ravelry. Anytime I have a questions - bam! find it on Ravelry. Extra yarn - don't know what to do with it - see what everyone else is doing with it on.. ravelry. Going somewhere and want a knitting shop near my destination? - you guessed it, Ravelry. Bored? Radar or forums on ravelry! *sigh* it's a little bit of knitterly heaven.

guess you have to be a knitter/crocheter/fiber person to really understand - sorry about the rant ;)

watching the hurricanes...

It's my first time as a Charlestonite Charlestonian Charlestinninian .. living in Charleston during hurricane season and it's so hard to know when to take it seriously.

Hurricane Hannah is on her way tonight, and Mike and I are staying, and just sleeping with one eye open. All the 'natives' say it'll be a bad storm and blow over - although, driving into work this morning, I noticed quite a few shops were closed and traffic was waay lighter than usual.

I guess it's Ike we really have to worry about, but since he's a bit away, it's just wait and see time. Word is I may get out of work early today to head home early, and Mike's leaving his car at school because it's a bit more protected. Living on an actually island makes him worry. We're supposed to evacuate with any Level 1 hurricanes, so it'll be interesting to see how the weekend turns out.

On the knitting front, I'm almost done with another baby sweater - it's a special project for a friend who lost her mom while we were working together, and I have some of her mom's yarn that I'm making it out of. I don't think she reads my blog, but I'm going to wait to post pictures I think until I'm closer to done.

I had run out of the yarn for the project, and was finishing it with another similar color, and then realized I had made the Foliage hat from Knitty out of it! It hadn't quite turned out the way I wanted, so I'm frogging an old project to salvage the yarn to finish a new one. It makes sense to me - I think the yarn was destined to be for her baby's sweater, I just never knew it till now.

finishing the ravelympics!

I did it - just by a hair, and it's not blocked yet, but here's a quick shot of the Anouk for Gabriella:



I won't say I 'won a medal' but at least I competed and finished!!

I had a bit of trouble with the shoulders, and had just enough brown yarn for the side tabs, but it all worked out well. I was going to do the pockets, but decided the 'G' would be cuter. I'm thinking a small flower in the green on the upper left side might also be really cute. (If I want to add things afterwards, does that disqualify me in finishing?)
I'm just glad I got it done.

I had done the 'G' in lower case at first:



but decided a capital letter would look better and ripped it out. This one also had the tabs on the wrong side, but we won't dwell on that little detail.

Something I've definitely learned from this ravelympics is I'm not afraid to rip out my knitting. Might as well do it right - which if you know me, I don't think fits with my normal attitude - not that I don't like to do things right, but I'm usually pretty accepting of whatever and go with the flow. I'm not super particular about most things - my philosophy usually is, it'll be o.k., it'll work out - whatever, so it's funny to me that I am so fussy about my knitting.

knitting the night away

This past weekend, I went down to Knit where they were having a "knit the night away" party. It was loads of fun! They had snacks and pizza and yummy strawberry shortcake, and everyone brought their knitting and talked about all sorts of random things. There was a movie, but I didn't watch it, I was trying to get the Baby Tart done and I made it pretty far:

As it gets smaller, it gets harder to do the bobbles at the top - I'm trying to keep them loose, but on DPN's it's difficult without leaving gaps. I'd really like to try this in crochet - for me crocheting bobbles is so much easier. Since it's done by picking up stitches off the "crust" I may knit another bottom and crochet the top. Maybe that's what I'll do for the Ravelympics!

What is Ravelympics you ask? The best way to describe it is off the Ravelry knitting site:

The First International Ravelympics Summer 2008 are open to any knitter or crocheter on Ravelry ready to challenge themselves to complete a project (or projects) within 17 days during the Summer Olympics.

Not to be confused with the Knitting Olympics which take place every four years, just like any other Olympic sport and will be orchestrated by the Yarn Harlot.

Concept: You must cast on a project during the Opening Ceremonies of the Summer Olympics (Aug. 8)- and finish before the Olympic flame goes out (Aug. 24). That’s 17 days. Would you rather work on your burgeoning WIPs? Then join up for the WIPs Wrestling. All other events are for newly cast on projects!

I have joined team KnitK on Ravelry, and am trying to decide if I am ambitious enough to finish my WIP's (works in progress) or if I should start a completely new project. Of course it would have to be a baby project as there are still 4 people to make knitting baby things for - not including finishing the tart hat: Missy, Alicia, Rachel and Crystal. You know who you are missies!

Oh yeah, Gabriella's birthday is also coming up, so I need to put together a gift for her too! sheesh!

I've got some ideas, I just have to pull all the materials together, and that usually takes me the longest to do. Well. I've got 9 days to get into gear!

making more baby stuff

Because another friend just had another baby - Keegan Andrew - born 3:23 yesterday to my friend Missy - her second, so she now has one of each boy/girl. (does that really need explaining?? Yet somehow I feel like it does).

I'm still not done with the baby tart hat, so I know I've got to get going on these things. I was getting teased at Knit-night because I've been making so much baby stuff. But I do like knitting smaller projects - I can't imagine how far behind I would be if it was all for adults!

So 2 out - 2 to go, and not one baby item finished here... sheesh! I've got to get working! Pictures to come.

as a new auntie again

My B&SIL just had their 2nd child - a beautiful baby girl yesterday! Yeah!! I am knitting the Baby Tart pattern from knitty for them and hoping to get it done by early next week to send it out. I just think it's the cutest little hat!

I also saw the new batman movie - The Dark Knight and it rocks! It was really pretty amazing. I went with some people from work, so I'll have to plan a movie night with Mike - I think he'll really like it, and it's the type of movie you could see over and over and over again. I'd recommend that one and Wall-E as well - my top two movies as of late. Hmm... what are yours?

...making The Bunny

I've noticed that some of the pictures on the other pages weren't showing up right. I don't know if my iPhoto issues have anything to do with it, so I just re-uploaded some of them. I still haven't re-installed iPhoto because I'm a little scared, but I do have a backup now, so the plan is to do that tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed.

In the meantime, here are some pictures and a bit of my process in making The Bunny.

First, the basic background: it all started with the grand idea - making a stuffed animal for my new niece out of my mom and dad's old clothes. I sorted through the clothes and put them together in different color combos, and then did some testing of my sewing skills on some scrap fabrics just to get the hang of things. This was going pretty well, and I wasn't too worried, so the project got put aside for other things such as, the sewing machine breaking, family visits, work on the giraffe, and of course moving. But I figured I still had plenty of time. That was in September.

Fast forward to two weeks before Christmas. I had finally decided on the pink fabrics, and that I wanted to make a bunny instead of a bear. I had practiced using the bear pattern, and although I had already cut out all of the template for it, I had found a really cute bunny pattern and figured it wouldn't be much different. So I cut out all the bunny templates too. Now I've done all the prep, all I have to do is put it together right? That's when I began to figure out that I needed to prioritize.

The machine was working, but things were taking longer than I thought. I was struggling with simple things like not having a very large cutting mat, or thread tension (maybe it wasn't completely fixed) and making sure the ends weren't going to unravel - which meant turning every square around to double back on what I had just sewn. Working on the floor wasn't helping - but I did manage to be innovative and turn the weight bench into a ironing board! I actually liked that it was closer to the floor, that way I didn't have to stand up every time I needed to press a seam open - which when working with 2.5" x 2.5" squares can be quite a bit.

My first plans were to make one large piece of patchwork fabric out of squares and then cut all the bunny template pieces out of that. Heres a picture of the largest piece of fabric I finished that took me at least 3 or 4 days before I got a little smarter:
For all you non-quilters out there - that's about a 12" by 12" piece of fabric. Yup. That's right. One foot of fabric for 3-4 days of work. Hrmmm. Maybe I needed to re think this.

I realized that I didn't need to keep making one big piece of fabric, but I could just sew enough squares and strips together to be big enough for each pattern piece! So a 2X5 strip for each arm, a couple of 4X7 strips for the body...and so on. I was super excited, and started piecing them all together.

I'm not sure what really takes longer, piecing together a lot of small squares, one and two at a time, or trying to create one big piece of fabric by making a long strip and then another, and then placing them around the square you already have. Like I've mentioned before - not a quilter. so I'm not really sure - to this day - what the most economical practices are.

But I decided on the strips and went from there. At this point, I don't have a lot of time to try new things. We was leaving on the 16th to drive to KY to see Mike's parents. Then we were flying out on the 18th to San Francisco to see all my brothers. I knew I had to get as much done as I could before I left. Here's where things started to fall apart a bit. This is a post I wrote the night before we left SC that I didn't have time to post. I was spending every minute I could on the machine.

Dec. 15th

I think I may have to admit defeat on the patchwork bunny. I really thought I was going along pretty well. Then I sat back and evaluated. Not anywhere near where I thought I was. Part of it was I just didn’t start in time, which was in part due to my indecision on how to go about doing it. I was so worried about messing up and using up all the fabric that I didn’t want to start, in case I figured out a better way to do things. Then there was finding the right bunny pattern. It turns out that the bunny pattern is much much bigger than the bear pattern - which means I need more fabric.. Now I think I’ve just plain run out of time. This took much longer than I expected. I’m going to pack it all up and take it to my MIL’s and see if she can help me. Hopefully she can, or can at least tell me if it’s a lost cause.

I think I have 2 options at this point.

Option 1 is just to take the quilted material I have now, back it and bind it and just give her a quilt. It’s not a bad option, and actually what I had originally planned. And then I could always finish the bunny later (if I had the energy).

Option 2 is to make this an ‘Easter Bunny’ rather than a ‘Christmas Bunny’. But part of this gift was I really wanted all my brothers to see the finished object, and we won’t all be getting together for another 2 years as far as I know, and my other brother may have a child by that point!

I don’t know what I was thinking when I decided a stuffed animal would be easier than a quilt. Um.. You have to pretty much make a quilt first to have the fabric to make the animal... shows how little I knew when I started the project. Live and learn I guess. And I do have 4 more batches of clothing to do better the next time. Ha. Next time. Right Alex, Stefan, if you have kids -they just might not get one at this point.

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I Probably should also mention that I've been working on knitting a pair of fetchings for my SIL and wanted to make a pair of dashings for my brother in my "down time". Down time being when it got too dark or my eyes/hands/back hurt too much from working on the sewing machine. but, it seems I was having some problems with these too...

~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~

As far as the fetchings go... I started with the teal Lambs Pride – fine. Nice detail, I love how soft and smooshy they are. The color is beautiful and I think Amy will really like them.

Nope.Ran out of yarn just as I finished the first one!

Ok. Not a problem, I’ll trim this one and do the second one in this lime green, which I'm pretty sure is Lambs Pride.
Working on this a day later, using the same needles and ...yup... realize I've run out of yarn again.

I only have enough for one - which wouldn't be a problem except for the other slight problem – waaay different gauge! yet same yarn? How does that happen?

So scrapped that idea.

OK. Go buy the right amount of yarn.

Start with two balls of this yarn in a dark blue – love this stuff. I've worked with it before and with two balls I know I have enough.

Work with it for cable or two and decide it’s too dark - you won’t be able to see the cables and I scrap again.

Okay. Something doesn’t want me working on this right now so... refocus on making a pair of dashings for Alex instead. I have some nice yarn in a dark gray. Thinking - let’s be smart and swatch first! Swatched 3-4 different times, including trying with the yarn doubled, because I wasn’t liking how thin they were. Not sure I liked the thickness if I doubled them. *sigh* forget it. Too much trouble, and I just didn't have the time.

Finally, I decided to suck it up and buy the actual yarn designated for the project and see where it lead me. I bought a beautiful ball in an olive green, and I’m really going to try to get it right this time. Or maybe I just need to make a hat. Yeah, a hat sounds good.

Off to bed to rest my weary legs and back from crouching at the sewing machine for so long. This is a labor of love Christmas for sure.

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The next morning, I packed everything up and drove to KY, and I did manage to finish one of the fetchings on the drive there. At least one project was going well.

The rest of the tale will have to wait. I've had enough of looking at a computer today. Tomorrow - 'sewing in Kentucky' and other adventures of The Bunny!

In-Between

It has been a crazy whirl-wind of activities for Mike and I over the holidays, and although there were 3 computers in about 1000 sq feet of space, there was not enough time to blog while keeping up with the Tamburro holiday extravaganza.

I did manage to email myself a few words here and there to recount later, and I'll be posting some of them here and there as I go. The biggest problem with not bringing my own computer with me, was a lack of access to pictures I took before I left, and not being able to upload the ones I took while there. So for now, I'll be blogging sans pictures for a bit.

We started our holiday with a trip from Charleston to Louisville. The drive wasn't bad, and we spend a couple of days in the 'ville. I spent most of the time in my MIL's sewing room finishing up what I called The Gift for most of the vacation.

Right before I left, I tried to post the following post, but didn't have time to pull it all together. Perhaps I should start there:

Dec. 12th:

As the holidays quickly approach, I'm feverishly working on all my handmade gifts. I'm not sure if I'll get them all done in time, but one of them I can't work on in transit, so it gets first priority. I've spent the past 3 days as well as today working on it. Here are a few photos to tease you a bit.










It's not perfect yet, but for a first go at it I'm pretty impressed with myself. Just don't ask me what it took to get to this point! I will say that it's really tedious to sew on a machine when it's sitting on the ground. Not to mention that it's is my mothers machine (making the project all the more nostalgic), a 1930's Singer that only has one direction. Be that as it may, that doesn't mean it can't have it's fair share of tension problems, or bobbin issues or any other quirks that come up when someone with little experience is working on it. But a few short prayers and a bit of a hissy-fit later, and we're getting along just fine now.

I also picked up a few balls of yarn that will hopefully fulfill what was missing from my stash. They'll be my primary travel projects. A ball of this, which is going to be a present for one of my SIL's, and a couple balls of this, which if done in time will be a present for my brother. Plus, I am bringing the sweater to see if I can finish it up while I'm there. We'll see what I get accomplished by the end of the trip. Keep tuned in to see...

~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~

The Debbie Bliss yarn turned into a great pair of fetchings, and my SIL loved the color. They went really quickly (especially since I had already tried to make them twice in different yarns that really didn't work). I finished one on the drive to KY, and the other on the plane to San Francisco. Unfortunately the one made in the car didn't make the flight, soo I have to mail it to her. I might have to add another surprise to make up for it.

The Gift turned out quite well. I finished the last bit of stuffing and stitching and putting it all together the day before the recipient showed up. It was quite a learning experience, and hopefully the next will go smoother. That adventure will be told when I have pictures to accompany it.

Mike and I had planned on spending New years in SC, but have changed our plans due to his mom having her gall bladder out yesterday. It went well, but tomorrow she has to have a ERCP, which means New Years in the hospital for her. No fun. So we're going to stay until she gets home.

On a sadder note, there have been a couple of families that I have know while growing up that have lost loved ones this holiday season. My heart goes out to the Verdi and Hoehler families - you are in my thoughts and prayers.

Presenting....

Gangly or "G" the giraffe!!! Yeah! she's done. It wasn't exactly on time, as I was still putting some finishing touches on her when I got to my brothers' house, but I was able to present her before my brother left for his flight on Sunday.

I'm tried taking the yarn I used for the hair along the neck and making some spots on G's back to make it more cute and fuzzy - but they ended up looking like furry moles so I cut them off - I like the simplicity now. I also am not crazy about her eyes - I think they're too small. I'm thinking of embroidering new ones over the top in a thicker yarn. But I really like the way she sits up, it's cute in a gangly sort of way. Over all I'm pretty proud of her.

In the meantime, I am getting quite a bit of knitting done here. I've finished a seed stitch headband I was working on - (pictures to come later) and a cardigan that I am already 5" into:

It's the "chunky tweed cardigan" from Erika Knight's book Knitting for two. I found the yarn it calls for on sale in the cutest colors:

I really like this book. I wouldn't mind having/knitting almost half of the patterns in this book, it's super cute for both child and parent. I've already put it on my wish list.

We were talking about a teddy bear that a friends mom made for Gabriella, and Kristin mentioned that a floppy-eared bunny would be really cute... hrmmm.. I haven't gotten that far on the bear, perhaps I should switch to a bunny. She doesn't have many of those around. I'll have to start searching for patterns. Here's a shot of the bear:

I think I can do something just as cute, if not cuter - ahh, my next challenge. Due: before I leave for California for Christmas....

The giraffe marches on...

without a head at the moment :)

I've finished all four legs of the giraffe and the body. Each leg got progressively better as I made it, which makes me want to go back and re-do the first one. I'm resisting, and waiting till I have the neck and head done, and then seeing how much time I have left. My deadline is Oct. 5th - not too far off, but close enough to put me in high gear. I know I procrastinate.

I had a basic idea for the body, egg shaped, perhaps kidney bean as well, and here's what I ended up with:

I ripped it out a few times before I was satisfied with this version. One was too long, another too kidney-bean-ish, too narrow in the middle... you get the point. This one is not exactly what I envisioned, but it's acceptable to me. I will need to pull that point in - or turn it into the tail or something.

That's one thing I don't have a problem doing - ripping out. Both of my knit-nite groups always make fun of me because I'll be going along, and then riiiipp, I'll just start pulling something out.

"What?! Wait, what are you doing?"

"It wasn't going like I wanted it to." *shrug*

It just doesn't bug me. I think it's because I know if I get it done and I don't like it, I won't wear it - or even give it as a gift, so I might as well fix it now. I had that problem with a Debbie Bliss hoodie I made, and I almost didn't give it away, because as I seamed the hood itself, it created a point at the tip. I ended up fiddling with it for a while and my friend convinced me it was cute, so I gifted it.

That's also why I don't have any pictures of the head yet - I've been crocheting, and frogging and crocheting and frogging. Now I don't always pull it all the way out, sometimes I just go back part way. I'm pretty good about checking as I go along to makes sure it's turning out like I expected. That's part of the fun for me.. OK, this isn't working, but if I go back and add some stitches here then maybe.. no, now I need to add some here, but crochet some together here... So that's how my process works. The only problem with this is, I don't take notes (because I'd be changing them constantly) so if I ever wanted to repeat it,or write out a pattern, it'd be hard. That's probably why the legs are all different!

I am shortening two of the back legs. I'm making it a bit realistic, and a bit cartoonish. I like the "realness" of the knees, but the head is pretty exaggerated at the moment. This whole process makes me really appreciate artists out there a whole lot more.
I guess I'm just lucky that my critic is only 3 weeks old!

Quilter I am not.

So, I had this great idea for a softie/stuffed animal for Gabrielle, and have decided on a bear. I didn't want to waste the fabric that I have trying to make my first teddy bear, so I went to the thrift store an picked up a few scarves and a cotton button-down shirt to practice on.

This has been enormously beneficial, as I don't have any guilt when I mess up that I'm ruining or wasting or using up all the fabric I so carefully collected. It's going well, and I'm able to adjust the templates if I don't like them. Here are a shot of the practice piece so far:
I think I'm about ready to start with the "real fabric". Now my problem is choosing which pieces to use. See, I just collected the clothes that "if I closed my eyes and pictured my mother, these are the things she would be wearing". There was no contemplation of design or even a whiff of a thought about color, or fabric, or how they would work together - especially for any type of quilt.

I am so not a quilter. I'm not really even any type of artist in my head. That's what M is for - he's got the eye for color and design, and he did help me before he left. I pulled all the clothes out, and he separated all that I laid out into groups that went together. Now, I have to choose a pile. This shouldn't seem daunting, but to me it is.

I want all the fabrics to go together.

I want it to be worthy of a family heirloom.

I want Gabriella to love it.

I want it to be special and perfect.

I want my brother to realize what it is at first glance, to recognize 'mom' in it.

I also want it to be fit for a little girl.

I'm having trouble picking which lot works for all the things I want.
So I sat down today with my camera, and pulled all the groups out, and spreading them on the floor, took pictures of the combinations. This helped some, because I didn't have to keep moving the fabric around to see how they looked.
I think I'm just afraid of it not being perfect. ....

Any quilters out there? or anyone just good at color and design? Lend me your eye - tell me what you think:

I call these the blue/purple florals:

The blue/purple/green on the left is a scarf, and was made in Hilton Head on vacation - we all made our own shirts, and she of course, made a scarf. The third fabric down, the pastel floral one, I remember her wearing to my brothers' college graduation and Easter. And I'm not all together sure I like the coral shirt in with these.
In my mind, these are really girly-girl fabrics, and although they have a vintage feel/vibe, they might be a little overwhelming together.


These are the green blue series:

I've always love the black, blue and coral dress, I think because of the pattern, and the other two patterned dresses are just 'old-school mom' to me. The green is a simple silk blouse. Once again, there's the HH scarf, (there is another one further down, in blues with a little bit of black)
I like this combo, but I don't know if it's right for this project, but I can't put into words why.


The pinkish series:

This "series" is the one Mike liked the most color/combo wise, but I'm not sure it's girly enough. Then again, I'm not all about super-girly. And I did call it the pink series... It's growing on me.

The top fabric (right) is another one where I think of my mother instantly when I see it. That would be the type of pattern I would look for when buying clothes and gifts for her. Mom's style has it's own "classic" category in my head.

What's weird is - as I look at all these fabrics, and group them all together, and rearrange them and describe them in words, they kind of contradict the image of my mom that I have in my head. If you had asked me before tonight if my mom was a floral person, I would have said Definitely Not. I don't think of her or her style as 'flowery' at all, but I've noticed that in every grouping, there is at least one flower pattern. It's really strange when you are the one to contradict the image you've had in your head all you're life.

These are, in my mind, 'Classic Mom' - black, red and white. I know I pulled out a lot of colorful patterns and dresses, but she did wear a lot of the basic colors too.

I'm thinking these are too similar or .. there's not enough contrast... or something. And yet, I do like them together - I think it's because the fabrics on these dresses are really nice and would make great softies. Plus, they are clothes she wore later in life, so I have stronger memories of her from them.


The last few pictures are left-over bright fabrics that I threw together, but I think they're too bright. Plus the green doesn't go as well as it looks on the computer. It's a bit more.. new grass green, and to me it looks more sea-foam-ish in the picture. The pink is the same fabric in both pictures, and that blue is a really bright blue.


I realize with all the different fabrics I'm going to have to back some of these, but in playing with the scarves from the thrift store, I used some iron on interfacing that worked really well. I've think I've got the technique down well enough... now it's just making a choice.

Lions and tigers and bears! Oh my!

The heading should actually read.. Bunnies or bears or giraffe's? Oh my!

My brother and sister-in-law are having a baby in August, and I am torn between what I really want to make them. (They don't read this blog, so I'm ok) My struggle is between what animal, and how it should be made - sewn or crocheted.

It began with an idea, long before they were pregnant or even married, back when my mother passed away in '02. Going through her closet, there were so many of her dresses and scarves and things that I just couldn't part with, but at the same time, didn't have any idea what to do with them. I donated many of them, gave others away to my mother-in-law and friends and family members, but there were still those certain pieces that, to me, were just the essence of my mother. Pieces that if I closed my eyes and pictured my mother, that's what I saw her wearing. So I took the clothing, and not knowing what I was going to do with them, packed them all into a box, or two, and stored them away.

Finally, I had a wonderful revelation - I would make baby quilts! Four of them, one for each brother, and one for myself, for when each of us had children. It would be for our first-borns. I had only gotten married in the year following my mother's death, so this seem do-able, as my older brothers married the next year, and the year after that, leaving me pleanty of time to make these blankets.

There was only one small problem... I'm not a quilter. The fact that I made a quilt, years ago, as a teenager, gave me the confidence to pick it up - given a bit of time and dedication. But as we all know, life happens, and I never got around to it, and the boxes of fabric followed me from Louisville, to Chicago and finally here to Homewood. I have accepted the fact that there is no way I will ever make one baby quilt, much less four, despite all my great intentions, and redesigned my idea into a patchwork teddy bear, or bunny perhaps. In the meantime, I learned to knit, became a better crocheter and found the world of Amigurumi. And after making a few softies for my friends children, I knew, that in a pinch, I could crochet a softie that I would also deem worthy of giving to my first niece or nephew. Hence my struggle begins...

I desperately want to make a patchwork softie out of my mother's fabric to give to the first of the Tamburro babies. So I've been looking for patchwork bunny or bear patterns that I like and not finding many. Then a friend suggested I just make a patchwork squares or patchwork strips of "fabric" and then trace a design out of that, and I love this idea! So I then asked my brother how they were decorating the nursery, to give me a better idea of bear or rabbit, since they're not finding out boy or girl. He tells me green and yellows and ... giraffes. A giraffe! What a great idea! I could crochet a giraffe pretty easily, and even make up the pattern on my own! Hrm.. what to do.

I went to Flickr to give me some ideas, and in my searches, I found my absolute favorite giraffe - (All her softies are gorgeous). I love the simplicity of it, and the fabric is awesome, but I don't have a pattern for it, and I'm also questioning my skills because I want this to be just perfect. I have a teddy bear pattern that I like, but I'm just not in love with it. Then the idea of a crochet giraffe seems easy and doable, especially in the time I have remaining, but that's taking away from the whole fabric idea. *sigh*
Bunnies or bears or giraffes? Oh my!